Doctor's appointments... could there be anything less humanizing? Every time she walked in Julie was certain the people inside had seen it all, everything under that thing veneer she called skin. The gross wobbly bits too...
"You know, this magazine says that the best way to use your womanly wiles on a man is to massage his feet twice a week."
Knowing how Julie felt, Matthew had come along as moral support.
"You shouldn't believe everything you read in there, dear brother. It's stuff to fill pages and get people paid." Julie just couldn't stop running her hands through her hair - it never would obey her on days like this.
"You say that now," Matthew bumped her shoulder with his own, "but I'm guessing it's going to sit at the back of your brain and just rumble around until you give it a chance. What if all men are really dictated to by the needs of their feet?" At Julie's exhaled puff, Matthew deemed a victory. It was close enough to the laugh he'd been working on since she'd exited the examination room. "If so, you should just give in now and learn all you can. In fact, you can practice on me. You can grab the lotion and give these stumps a rub anytime, now. Aren't I the best, most selfless brother ever?"
He knew he wouldn't get more than a sigh with that one and began looking for other tid-bits of absurdity in the next pile of magazines. As Matthew soon heard, it had gone past general anxiety - Julie was cracking her knuckles. "What are we waiting for again?"
"My prescription - the temporary stuff to get started, the pain killer, and make sure they called the pharmacy."
"So it's not the end of the world. How about you give those digits a rest. Show me that new cellphone you got."
Truly, it was a cheap-o cellular, eerily similar to the one before - mostly because it was the phone Julie had before. The only new change was the phone number itself. Matthew had already updated his contacts but was determined to compare the supposedly new phone of meager means to the old. His favorite feature was that if you stuck it in a sock, Julie's clunker could be used as a weapon.
And so it went until a nurse called her name. It was only in the car that Julie took her first deep breath.
"I think I don't need anything else now. Drop me home, please."
The tone of voice told Matthew all he needed to know, but he pressed on nonetheless. "You say that, but we're supposed to have lunch."
The appointment had been for late morning and since Matthew had invited himself along, he'd invited Julie to lunch to make a day of it. Of course he had to have been at the diner during her last shift where she mentioned the doctor's. Kicking that damn wall, while satisfying in the immediate sense hadn't helped out much walking the next day's ten hour shift. And he kept mentioning that while she was going to the doctors, she could ask about the new medication for her dreams.
"So why do you need a topical pain killer again, my dearest sibling?"
"I'm only the dearest because there are no others..." Julie knew she was hedging, that Matthew had probably gotten an earful from their mother, and then a second helping from the way the conversation was going. He always avoided talking about something sensitive until Julie gave in and started first. "What did she tell you?"
"Something about you calling her out of nowhere, yelling at her, and then rudely hanging up. Her innocence and lack of duplicity was mentioned once or twice, making your aural attack on her so much more shocking. After all, she is your mother, only caring about your well-being and happiness." Matthew drove past Julie's exit on the highway, stomping out any hope that this conversation would be brief.
"And grandchildren."
"Well, that too. You've been her only hope thus far. Long term relationship, favoring the opposite sex, having sex on a consistent basis..."
She had to interrupt. If she had to talk about sex with her brother, she might vomit. "You're bi, not gay. And you only had one boyfriend, eight years ago."
"Yes, but as there is the
potential
for a lack of biological grandchildren, she has accounted me a total loss. That way, if I do settle with a girl and happen to have children she will be surprised. Like a kid on Christmas morn." They took the exit for another route, probably bound for Matthew's place. "And your change of subject is noted but not accepted."
"You should just tell her you favor girls anyway..."
"Wouldn't help. That month and a half where Ian was in my life has created reasonable doubt. He's the reason she never asks me about girlfriends and I have never volunteered information since." And just because he was tired of her driving the conversation, he took it in hand. "Though it might get her mind off the current bee in her bonnet."
"She's been talking to Michael."
"That douche bag again. Why has she been calling him?"
"No, other way around. And our darling mother has taken his account of things as fact."
